Adventure, November 1915 — page 35: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Gold Lust Addams went cautiously toward the light, trying to make out the features of the person beyond the grille of stout iron bars that, with the shutter outside that had just been opened, formed the upper part of a heavy door. ~ “Come to your senses, have you?” asked a voice that he seemed to have heard before. “That’s good. You'll need ’em!”’ “Where am I?” demanded Addams. “And who are you?” The man chuckled. ~“Yow’re in the cellar of a Chinese hang- out,” he said. ‘And your partner’s fixed the same way. Twenty foot under ground you are. You an’ me’s goin’ to have a little talk. As to who I am, take a look. You’ve seen me before, more’n once, though you may not recognize me.” He held up the lantern, which had il- lumined the grille, close to the bars, disclos- ing the face of a clean-shaven man, with black hair cropped close to his face. De- spite the absence of the gray wig and the amber glasses, Addams saw the resemblance to the man in the wheel-chair. “Ah, Henley,” he said, drawing at a venture, The man’s face showed disappointment. Then he laughed, showing uneven, discol- ored teeth. “‘You’re smart, you are,” he said with a grudging admiration. “But it was only a guess, if it was a good un. You didn’t tum- ble to me aboard the steamer, for all your foxiness.”’ “T suppose you know,” bluffed Addams, “that you’re wanted in New York for mur- der?” The man snarled. “T didn’t murder Fellowes, if that’s what you mean,” he said. “He was scared to death before I laid a finger on him, because he knew what I’d come after. Something that belonged to me. Something I’m going _ to get, Mr. Addams, for all your smartness. And you don’t want to forget that New York’s a long way off from here. It’s you that’s in a tight place now, not me. “I thought something was up the night you took Fellowes ’round to your place,” he went on, “playing charity to the old thief, so as to get the information that be- longs to me, by rights.” “Go on,” said Addams, who had found a bale of goods near the door and established himself there. “You mean the gold your 33 -father stole and committed murder for.” “ll show you what I mean,” said Hen- ley. “I’ve got you where I want you now, and here you stay: till you come through. Oh, you’re a fox, with your fake position in the Herald and stowin’ away the right figgers where they can’t be found! [ll hand it to you. We searched your cabin thorough, and your girl’s, too. We've been all through your clothes and your pal’s while you was both out of your senses just now, but you’re goin’ to tell ’em to me be- fore you get out of here. “Tm a fox, too,” he went on, his voice thickening in anger at Addams’s immobility and silence. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t give me the straight dope in the Herald, and I had you tagged all the time. I ain’t alone in this. When Fellowes croaked, I ducked, but I knew every move you made. I know when you left for San Francisco and then I was sure of three things: first that you’d tried to bamboozle me; second, you had got the real dope from Fellowes; third, you was goin’ after the gold yourselves. “T followed on the next train west from Philadelphia. I wired to San Francisco, and when I got there I knew all ’bout you— where you registered and what steamer you was goin’ on. When you was shopping I had a pal outside, watchin’. You might be lookin’ out for a lame man with a beard, so I got my sister who’s been an actress and a good one, to fix me a make-up—a wig, some grease paint, a close shave and some padding—an’ play nurse to a poor paralytic who couldn’t leave his cabin except in a wheel-chair. : “TI know every move you’ve made,” con- tinued Henley. “I knew the gold was on an island somewhere in the Pacific. That fool Fellowes give that much out when he tried to get up an expedition and leave me out of it. It’s somewhere not far from here, that’s a cinch, or you wouldn’t be dickerin’ ’round the yacht club an’ the water-front for a small craft. “You see, I lived here once, Mr. Addams, and you can’t turn a trick here that I ain’t on to. And you couldn’t get a yacht, could you? I could have told you that and saved you the trouble. You was just a day late at Pearl Harbor to get the Lez Lehua, too. Why? Because me and Schwartz are old pals. We've worked together. His brother- in-law owns the Lei Lehua and you had no 7 - ¢ : M i ¢ ~ <a { é f ; Pe 6 "} Se Pose ak ; P cued £8 bso OM TTR STI OR TIRE ANT Pe SOE MO aM PRIN NY IE Dg Pot CLI SEDOL TAN Meret oANy, Te ON ST ee yA ae eee ed SVE nen aN ASS CY ARARMT YD AN ae Pee E / 248 YD a 7 OR oy PLS ee : bie a oe PARS Sh: ws a AS Vik ot EORNICLOO (C cS’ (E@) der vt ‘ VEE ee SC U7, i PR ee li Pe ae ee -, ‘ FE OL RAR ER Se oe ya ORT he Tape OOM Dewy UME we a ee we ee eee